READING: Isaiah 28-30
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: Do you find yourself feeling like you’re in exile today — distant from God, wandering without peace? Today’s reading in Isaiah focuses on three “woes” (announcements of judgment with a sense of a funeral — the “death” of a people). The causes of coming judgment on Israel and Judah are numerous:
1. They would not listen to God.
Isa. 28:12 He had said to them: “This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose.” But they would not listen.
2. Their leaders were filled with wine.
Isa. 28:7 These also stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in their visions, they stumble in their judgments.
3. They were going through the motions of worship.
Isa. 29:13 The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service — yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote—
4. They were seeking to hide their sin from God.
Isa. 29:13 Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. They do their works in darkness, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
5. They were operating in their own strength, according to their own plans.
Isa. 30:1-2 Woe to the rebellious children! This is the Lord’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine; they make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.
Ultimately, God would bring the judgment of exile upon His people, but He would do so to bring the people back to Him. He would “bandage His people’s injuries and heal the wounds He inflicted” (Isa. 30:26). It’s hard to fully understand a love that sends us into exile so we understand our sin, come to the end of ourselves, and return to our Creator — but the love shown in that plan is deep. Sometimes, the pain of the exile is the beginning of the joy of return.
PRAYER: The Holy One of Israel has always kept His Word to bring His people back. Pray that we will always see the exile as His cry to call us home.
TOMORROW’S READING: Isaiah 31-34